Lost Innocence
by naruto7332
Summary: Naruto is trained from the age of four by Kakashi. I know this is not a new concept, but it will incorporate all of the latest Jutsu from the Manga. Naruto will be strong, but not unreasonably, and he will be reasonably intelligent. However, he will still be a goon, and his greatest strength will still lie in his ability to unite people around his person. Better summary in Bio.
1. Chapter 1

As soon as the barrier went down, Hiruzen ran over to the parents. After seeing that the mother had already passed, he knelt down and helped Minato – the father – lie down comfortably. He knew there was nothing he could do to save him, so he held his head up and tried to listen as best he could. When he passed, and his final words had been spoken, Hiruzen closed his eyes and his body visibly slumped. For a moment, he sat there, and the cold air brushed up against his face, but he did not wince or react in any way. His face was like stone, an impenetrable wall; no emotion showed upon it. Until, a single tear rolled down his face, and then another. Slowly, tears steadily streamed from both eyes, and his now tense face slooped, joining the rest of his body.

A scream pierced the silence, or, maybe he only just recognized it. Hiruzen's eyes snapped open, and he looked around. His tears stopped immediately. There, in front of Hiruzen, was a newborn baby. It was lying next to the corpses of the mother and father. Clenching his jaw, Hiruzen stood up. His face was a wall again, and he walked over to the child. It was still crying, relentlessly wailing. On its' stomach was an _Eight Trigrams Seal_. He was about to pick it up when he stopped and looked over to the dead parents. He whispered, mostly to himself. "I'll do my best... to keep my promise to you."

Then, Hiruzen picked up the newborn, and rushed back to the village.

 **Four Years Later**

"Lord Third"

Hiruzen looked up from his desk. Three people were standing in front of him. On the right was an older man with a large white scarf and a light brown kimono. In the middle of them was an older woman with a kimono, and on the left was a man wrapped in bandages, holding a cane. The Hokage let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair.

"I guess it is about that time." He said.

No one responded. Hiruzen stroked his beard and swiveled his chair to the side so he could glance out the window. From his seat, he could see the entire village. The sky was dark and the moon was out. Lights were slowly flickering off across the village. Hiruzen thought of all the parent's in the village, putting their children to bed with a kiss and a smile on their face. The end of one more day of innocence. Until, slowly, there would be none left.

"What have you come up with?" Hiruzen said, not looking at his trio of advisors.

"He will train with me." The man on the left said.

Hiruzen didn't move for a moment. Then, he swiveled his chair so he was once more facing them.

"I hope you know how terrible I feel about this." He said. "I made a promise. A promise to the Fourth Hokage. I failed to keep it, and I'm sure if he saw this… he'd be turning over in his grave right now."

"We've already discussed this, Lord Third." The bandaged man said. "But with us, he will become strong, and he will be able to help this village more so than if you were to place him anywhere else."

"Yeah…" Hiruzen paused. "I don't like it. Root, that is. Why Root?"

"Because Root will give him control over his emotions, and, as such, will help him come to terms with his loneliness and solitude." The woman said.

Hiruzen took a deep breath; he had a pensive look on his face. He stood up from his chair and walked around his desk so that he was in front of it. Sitting down on it, he looked at the three before responding.

"No, not Root. I won't allow it."

"But you said –" The man on the right said.

"I said I wanted to know what you thought was best. I never said I would agree to it" he said. "Now, you're right that he needs training. He clearly won't have a regular childhood, and he will obviously need to defend himself – for a variety of reasons. However, Minato made me promise that he would be accepted by the village. While I might not have fulfilled that promise so far, I know it will never be fulfilled if he is a part of Root. He needs emotions… So, who else could take him in? What was your next best choice?"

The three persons did not respond immediately.

"What about Kakashi?" The woman responded.

Hiruzen thought about it for a moment. "I'll think about it. Give me some more names, and I'll make up my mind."

The man on the right listed off some names: "Jiraiya, Itachi, Fugaku, Shisui, or anyone from the Uchiha clan. Anyone that can control the Nine-Tails should they need to."

"Alright" Hiruzen responded. "Alright" he said again in a much quieter voice. "Unfortunately, Jiraiya will say no, so he's out. I can tell the other people what to do, though. I'll let you know what I decide in time."

"Don't take too long, Hiruzen," the woman said.

"I won't."

In the blink of an eye, only Hiruzen remained in his office.

"I'm getting too old for this." He said. "Too old."

* * *

 **Authors Note:** That's it! My first chapter! Let me know what you guys all think. Construcive criticism is always appreciated. I hope this one tickled your fancy. Thanks for the read, and I hope to see you as soon as I get the next chapter done. I got this guy done in like three hours, and I'm sure it needs lots of revising. I've got a whole summer tho, so I'll be good.


	2. A New Season

Over the horizon, the sun rose and illuminated the nascent day. Above it, the sky was hesitating, choosing between yellow and blue. Down below, the earth was waking up. Birds chirped and flew about, while young flowers, plants, and other foliage peaked outside of their winter homes, escaping into the sunlight for the first time since fall. In Konoha, spring had come. The villagers seemed to have a hop their step, and smiles were ubiquitous. Instead of arguments and arbitrary bartering plaguing the market, there seemed to be a shared attitude of irenic motive. Springtime was a joyful contagion in the Hidden Leaf, spread to every man, woman, and child.

One man, however, was seemingly immune. Whilst circumambulating the village – albeit with a goal in mind, he walked with the same stride as he would have any other day. In his hand was a book, and he seemed fully engrossed in it. His entire face, except for his right eye, was covered by a mask and headband. Jutting out of the top of his head was a voluminous head of hair. His one eye was only half open, and his whole body gave off an aura of relaxation.

As he walked, time passed, and the morning waned; he neared his destination. Children ran past him, and the streets slowly congested. Deciding that the traffic was getting too intense, he moved to turn a corner when – _blam_. A woman was turning the same corner as him, and ran into him. She dropped her baby in the process, only for the man to catch it.

"Oh!" She exclaimed! "Thank you so much. I'm so sorry; I didn't see you there!"

He closed his one visible eye, and said. "No, problem, I should have been paying more attention anyways." He handed back the baby.

She grabbed her child, smiled and walked off into the busy crowd. Instead of turning the corner, the man stood there, and stared at where she had been. Then, shaking his head, he continued on his way.

"Kakashi!" A voice said from behind him. He turned.

"Yes?" He responded. The person speaking was a young boy, maybe 13. On his forehead was a headband, marking him as a ninja of the hidden leaf.

"Lord Third sent me to get you. He needs to meet with you."

Kakashi's brow furrowed, and then he responded. "When?"

The boy paused, then his eyes opened wide. "I'm not sure. I think I forgot." He trailed off.

Kakashi's furrowed brow shifted, and his eye closed in an eye-smile. "Alright, tell him I'll be there ASAP" he said. Then he turned and jumped, leaving only a brief glimmer and a small gust of wind in his wake.

* * *

Hiruzen glanced once more at his watch, then, he leaned back in his chair and let out a strong, pointed exhale.

"Where _is_ he?" He said under his breath.

Standing up, he paced around his office, glancing at the stack of papers on his desk often. He clenched his fists. Then, he looked outside and gazed at the village through his large windows. The sun was high in the sky, and the day was declining: traveling towards its' fated nadir. Birds chirped and flew, mothers returned to their nests. Young plants grew, and Hiruzen, although he could not see them with much specificity, saw their nuances and intricacies in his mind. A small smile dashed across his face, and his hands relaxed.

"I love the start of spring," he said to himself.

Behind him, the door opened and shut. Clenching his fists once more, the smile ran away from his face. He turned around suddenly and saw Kakashi standing by the door. Kakashi was facing Hiruzen, but not looking at him. Instead, his focus was on the book in his right hand.

"Yo," Kakashi said, not taking his eyes off the book.

Rather than responding, Hiruzen narrowed his gaze and walked back to his desk. When he had sat back down, he motioned at Kakashi, pointing at the seat in front of his desk.

"Sit," Hiruzen said.

By now, Kakashi had put his book away. With his usual drooping eye, Kakashi made his way over and sat down. For a moment, the Hokage said nothing, only making eye contact with Kakashi.

"I've been waiting here for four hours Kakashi." Hiruzen said.

"Well, I was crossing the road, and this old la-" Kakashi said before he was cut off.

"Spare me your B.S. Kakashi. When I ask you to come to my office, I expect you to arrive on time!" He yelled, leaning forward slightly.

Kakashi's eye slightly widened, and he leaned back in his chair some.

Silence hung in the air. Hiruzen let out and exhale, and facepalmed with one hand.

"I'm sorry Kakashi. This job is… Well, I'm getting too old for this, and, well, the boy. The boy, Kakashi. He's stressing me out."

"What boy?" Kakashi said.

"Sorry, his name is Naruto. I forgot. You don't know him." Hiruzen leaned forward and opened a drawer in his desk, rustling through the files until he took one and picked it out. "This is his file. You'll find the specifics in there, but I can give you a brief overview."

Kakashi leaned forward and grabbed the file from his hand. He flipped it open and started skimming over the pages.

"He's four years old. Turns five in October. He's the son of Minato, and he's the Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki." At the mention of the latter, Kakashi looked up for a second.

"He's Minato's Son? Minato sealed the Nine-Tails in his own son?"

"Yes, and I don't know why because he didn't have time to tell me. All he was able get out was that he didn't want his son to be a pariah: blamed for the attack of the Nine-Tails." Hiruzen said.

"Hm," Kakashi muttered with a slight nod. His eye looked past Hiruzen. Hiruzen kept explaining.

"I haven't done that so far; in fact, I've totally failed. The village despises him. In the infinite short sidedness of the mob mentality, they have done exactly as Minato feared, and they now attribute to Naruto the acts of the Nine-Tails."

"So, why do you need me? Does he need protection?" Kakashi asked.

"No. No! Absolutely not. I would never tolerate physical attacks on Naruto. Those I can stop, on the other hand… I can't force people to like him. He has no friends or family, and I can't take the time out of my busy schedule," he glanced at the stack of papers on his desk, "to be a father figure to him."

Kakashi narrowed his eye. "I'm to be a father figure to him then?"

"No. There's another, more pertinent issue. He looks a lot like his father, as you can see." Hiruzen motioned to the file. "I fear that if his looks do not change, he could become a target for his father's old enemies. On top of that, he is the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails. So, he's a potentially highly valued target for enemies of Konoha. For the sake of the village, he needs to be trained. We cannot sit idly by as our enemies plot to attack us. We must prepare ourselves."

"Ah, I see." Kakashi said. "And what if I refuse?"

Hiruzen leaned back in his chair. "I can't force you to bond with him, or to become close to him. I can, however, force you to train him, and I strongly recommend you don't blow him off entirely. You can still live your life. You don't need to spend every waking moment with him, just train him up. You were a prodigy, just teach him what you taught yourself when you were young."

"So… I have to train him?"

"Yes."

Kakashi closed his eye, and lowered his head slightly.

"Kakashi," Hiruzen said.

Kakashi looked up again.

"Where were you when I was waiting for you? Tell me truthfully."

"Kakashi paused before speaking. "Same place I always am."

Hiruzen pursed his lips and nodded. "Look. Maybe this will help you to, not just Naruto."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi said pointedly.

"I may not have much free time, Kakashi, but I do know the state of my ninja. And I know that you don't have many friends." Hiruzen paused. "I know what happened to Obito and Rin was hard. And losing Minato was hard… for all of us. But you need to get over it. Perhaps this will help you do that."

Kakashi didn't say anything, and didn't make eye contact. No one spoke for a minute or two.

"Give me the details, and tell me when to start." Kakashi said quietly.

A smile formed on Hiruzen's face. "Gladly."

Outside, the sun was declining, and the animals and the earth began their dusk rituals, but the sun's rays still gave off ample amounts of warmth. And, when the stars came out, they were the stars of spring; the night could not hide the joy of the new season.

* * *

 **Authors Note:** In this chapter, I focused on using symbolism to represent the theme of the chapter. That was probably quite obvious, but that's what my goal was, and I hope it was not too explicit. I hope it was a good enough read – I have not edited it, so I'm sure it needs a lot of work. I'm just trying to get some material out there. Anyway, that's all I got. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Please leave a review, and let me know what I can work on/what you liked! I'll see you soon!

P.S. I just realized that my line breaks had not carried over from my word document. So, if you were confused by the sudden change in setting. Well, now you know. I hope it's fixed.


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